Sparkabet: A is for Abodement
by Sparky Army
Summary: Abodement: An omen or fortelling. John and Elizabeth are given a warning of what is to come.
1. Chapter 1

_**The alphabet is something everyone is familiar with (at least we hope so lol) so why not sparkify it? After all everything needs to be sparked at least once lol. So 26 sparky fics are coming your way with titles from A to Z. **_

_Authors Note (Hannah554): With Year of the Spark over it's time to move onto other things and the alphabet is the first in line to be sparked. So I'm kicking things off with A, hope you guys enjoy this and the rest of the fics to come. _

* * *

**Abodement**

_By Hannah554 _

_A is for Abodement – an omen, a foretelling._

* * *

It was as though he'd just stepped into a scene from a movie and the change was so sudden it caught him off guard. They'd gone from the serene looking village, wooden houses and thatch roofs into some medieval temple and the change had been as quick as walking through a door. The large room was dimly lit, benches lined up one after another like you would see in any church. The isle down the middle had a red carpet covering the stone floor and leading to the few steps that took them to the altar. The candle lights flickered slightly making the shadows they cast dance and giving the room an even more eerie feel than it already had. The altar itself was made of dark wood, with a dark red sheet laid over it and candles in two of the corners. There was a book in the middle, obviously an old one if the yellowing pages were anything to go by and thicker than anything John had ever read. The words were another language, one John didn't recognise and from the puzzlement on Elizabeth's face she didn't know it either.

If John hadn't been around these people for days already the alarm bells in his head would have been too intense to ignore. As it was he was fairly sure that these were good people, genuine in their wish to trade with Atlantis, they just had a creepy religion going on here and of course like any good religion it interfered with just about everything it came in contact with, including negotiations with outsiders. As a rule the Kintari would not make a deal with anyone until the leaders had been met with the approval of the overseer. He was not the head of the village, they had a council for that but he was the head of the religious order here and to gain approval from him was to gain it from their God.

"Please wait here," Maria said as she walked out of the room through the small door beside the altar. Teyla had assured them that she had dealt with these people before, that meeting the Overseer was more of a formality than anything else, the worst that would happen is they would come out of here incredibly creeped out, a feeling John had already felt in abundance. Apparently it wasn't going to get any better either, the Overseer was also some kind of psychic, a fortune teller but according Teyla it was more than just cheap tricks and broad guesses.

"I hope this doesn't take long," Elizabeth whispered as though she feared any loud sound might offend whatever deity it was they worshipped here, John wasn't entirely sure why his voice too was quiet when he responded.

"Me too," he replied watching her as she looked at the high ceiling, wooden beams placed strategically to ensure the building didn't fall. Under normal circumstances Elizabeth would be enjoying the look she was getting into another culture, into such a big part of who they were but the creepiness of this place seemed to have dimmed her curiosity, he couldn't say he blamed her.

The door to the side creaked open but it wasn't Maria that came through, it was a man dressed in red robes, a hood casting shadows over his face and a tall staff in his hand, if this guy wasn't the Overseer then he was pretty terrified to meet the guy who was. He stepped toward Elizabeth, closing the small distance that had been between them. The man stopped in front of the altar, his face still hidden from view but from what little John could see the man was old, probably very old.

"You come to seek the approval of the God," the Overseer stated, his voice deep and unwavering.

"We do," Elizabeth replied, her diplomat's voice in play now, her own was probably a little shaky.

"Then step forward and be judged," the man instructed and hesitantly John and Elizabeth stepped closer to the altar. "Hold out your hands," he said and they both did as they were asked, the Overseer picked up a candle from the corner of the Altar tipping it to the side over Elizabeth's hand until the wax ran onto it and Elizabeth recoiled slightly. John's other hand twitched slightly in an unconscious effort not to reach for his gun, he was far too tense, instead he kept his palm still as the wax was poured onto his hand as well. "Light is the bringer of knowledge, without it we would not see the truth, for no one in the dark can truly see their path."

There was some sense in that but that didn't mean it crept him out any less, all the same John held his hand still as the Overseer examined it, examined the wax, his palm and his wrist. He did the same to Elizabeth and then stood up straight, his face was still hidden and John could honestly say he didn't like that; he had no idea who he was dealing with here.

"Your purpose here is true, you have approval," the Overseer told them "And now for your gift, a glimpse of what is to come."

John stayed quiet, he wasn't sure what that meant and he wasn't sure he wanted to find out but if this was what they had to do to trade with these people then so be it. The Overseer examined their hands again, pouring more wax onto them, this time enough that it dripped to the altar.

"The light reveals the dark," the Overseer informed them. "A darkness that approaches quickly and two paths you may take. One will lead you back to the light, the other to an eternal stay in the dark; there will be no turning back once the path has been chosen."

"And what are those paths?" Elizabeth questioned quietly, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Both lead to loss but one to more, a sacrifice may have to be made to protect the good," the man stated. "May the Great God guide you."

The Overseer left then and despite the urge to call him back and demand more information John let him go, he had a feeling that was the most he was going to get, he should have known it would be a riddle. Maria returned as the Overseer left, she smiled to them both and led them back out of the temple, back to daylight. The rest of the team were waiting for them there, talking quietly amongst themselves until they saw the two leaders approaching.

"Well?" Rodney questioned immediately.

"We got approval," Elizabeth told him, her voice a little shaky now that the diplomat had gone away.

"And massively creeped out while we were at it," John added with a glance at Teyla who smiled and nodded.

"I trust you were told of your future," she said curiously.

"In a very scary sounding riddle," John replied.

"You should take what you were told seriously, I have never met anyone who did not have what the Overseer says come true," Teyla told them, something in her voice making John worry a little more about what the old man had said. He hadn't liked the sound of it before and he liked it even less now but he wasn't someone who would let a fortune teller run his life, he could be more wary but he wasn't going to keep dwelling on it.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

As much as he loved going off world it was always nice to come home to Atlantis at the end of a long mission. It had taken two days to negotiate the trade agreement with the Kintari once they'd gained the approval of the Overseer. It was done now though and John wouldn't be going off world again until next week, normally a whole week of inactivity would drive him crazy but if he was honest the rest would do him some good and he really ought to get at least some of his paperwork done.

He walked into Elizabeth's office, they'd only been back a few hours but she'd already returned to the mountain of paperwork on her desk. He left the mug of coffee on the corner of her desk waiting for her to realise it was there. It didn't take long, it never did, the smell reached her and she looked up with a smile, reaching out for the warm drink and thanking him.

"I needed that," Elizabeth said when she put the mug back down again.

"You usually do," John replied half seriously as Elizabeth returned the majority of her attention back to the report she'd been working on. John glanced at his watch, it was getting late now, most of the city were probably tucking themselves into bed. They had a team due to return any minute now though and John knew Elizabeth wouldn't go to bed until they were back so he didn't bother to say anything yet.

As if on cue the gate started dialling and Elizabeth was on her feet, walking through to the control room, John tagging along at a much more leisurely pace. Chuck informed them it was SGA-3 and the shield was lowered, three men and a woman coming through the gate below them. Elizabeth went down to greet them; she shared a brief conversation with them before returning to the control room. She gave a few orders, things that needed to be done by the night shift and was about to return to her office when John stepped in front of her. He didn't say anything, didn't need to, Elizabeth already knew what he as thinking.

"I've just got to finish this report John, then I'm going to bed," she informed him and he raised an eyebrow at her. "I swear, straight to bed, I'll be done in twenty minutes."

John studied her for a moment "Alright, but if I find out you were still in here after bed time..."

"You'll do what?" she questioned raising her own eyebrow now, a smile playing on her lips as he tried to think of an answer.

"Something drastic," he replied and then left heading to his own quarters.

* * *

The source was obvious, all of Major Andrews team had been among the first to show symptoms and it hadn't taken Carson long to realise they were in trouble. They'd had headaches, not all that uncommon after a mission, the sickness was a worry but it was the nose bleeds that had really set alarm bells off. Speaking of alarms, Atlantis has failed to pick this up, there had been no quarantine, the city remained open and lively, at least for now.

"Since then I've had five more people come in with the same symptoms, they've all been quarantined but there's no telling how many people have already been exposed, how many people are being exposed now," Carson was explaining the situation, he was as calm as usual but John could hear the edginess in his tone, he was more worried than he wanted to let on.

"So what do we do, order a lockdown?" Lorne questioned, he'd only come by the infirmary to check on a friend, he probably hadn't been expecting to find out they had a virus lose in the city.

"I think that might be best for now, get people to stay where they are as much as possible, it'll lessen the number of people being exposed," Elizabeth replied thoughtfully. Carson already had his team working on this; they were analysing samples of the virus in the lab at that moment. They'd caught this thing quite quickly, hopefully that would give them the time to find a way to stop it before it became a bigger problem.

"I'll do that now," Lorne said and then left the infirmary.

"So what do we know so far?" John asked after the Major had gone and Carson shook his head.

"Not much I'm afraid, we've only had a few hours, we should know more when the initial lab tests come back in a couple of hours," he told them glancing in the direction of the quarantine room.

"How are they doing?" Elizabeth questioned following the direction of his gaze.

"Not bad considering, they're worried of course but for now they just have to sit tight and wait until we can figure out what's going on," Carson replied.

"Keep us updated," Elizabeth ordered receiving a nod from Carson before she and John left. They walked through the corridor in silence at first, people passed them by still oblivious to what was going on, a state that wouldn't last much longer. Lorne should get to the control room any minute; he'd make the announcement and lock down the city.

"I'm trying to decide if it's a good thing or a bad thing that we got back just in time for this," John stated and Elizabeth gave a him a small smile in return for his attempt to lighten the mood she could already feel settling around her.

"You know what's really annoying me," Elizabeth began and John gave her an expectant look waiting for her to continue. "All I can think about is the warning the Overseer gave us."

John looked stunned for a moment and Elizabeth let him ponder that for a second "You don't think this is what he meant?"

"I don't know, I've never put much faith in fortune tellers and cookies that can read your future but for some reason I can't seem to ignore this one," she told him. It might have had something to do with immensely eerie atmosphere that had been inside that temple but she hadn't been able to shake off what she'd been told in there. An approaching darkness wasn't really a very specific description, for all she knew he was talking about a solar eclipse but if this was what he meant then she had more than just the virus to worry about. He'd said sacrifice; a sacrifice may be necessary and while it could be something of nothing she couldn't help but feel that there was a lot worse to come.

"May I have your attention...," Lorne's voice began over the city wide intercom and Elizabeth sighed, whatever was going on, she would find out soon enough.

* * *

Three deaths and there were more to come, a third of the city had come down with the virus, the infirmary was full and so were the other triage areas that had been set up. Major Andrews was the latest; he'd died twenty minutes ago after a pretty painful fight with the virus. The medical teams were making little to no progress in finding a cure and Elizabeth had been forced to turn away several of their teams who had tried to return through the gate leaving them stranded off world until this was over.

The virus had been airborne, it had spread through Atlantis and the city's sensors had never picked it up. As a result everyone had been exposed, Elizabeth supposed it was just a matter of time before everyone in the city was symptomatic, so far she was clear, able to do her job but she didn't have any delusions that it would last forever. John was clear too, as was Rodney and Ronon but Teyla's nose had started bleeding an hour ago and Elizabeth hadn't seen her since. Considering how serious the situation was becoming, how desperate, she was proud of her people for holding it together. There had been no panicking, everyone was doing what they had to, everyone was taking care of those that needed help.

Even with everything going on she still couldn't stop thinking about the Overseer's warning, his words kept going around and around in her head. She was fairly sure this would qualify for the role of approaching darkness, it was more like arrived darkness now and if that was the case then there was a choice coming up that she wasn't going to like, a sacrifice to be made.

John walked into her office and dropped down into her chair with a heavy, tired sigh. He sat there for a moment, not speaking until he took a deep breath and rubbed his eyes, leaning forward in the chair to hold her gaze.

"Rodney's nose was bleeding, apparently it wasn't the first time either," he told her and Elizabeth closed her eyes against the rush of emotions, pushing them away to be dealt with later. "Stubborn man, he should have told us he was symptomatic instead of just carrying on working."

"Would it have made a difference?" Elizabeth questioned, she knew John was just worried, that was two members of his team, his family, that were being taken down by this thing. "He's probably done more good just by carrying on working."

"How are you doing?" he asked her and she shrugged.

"Still clear of symptoms," she replied not bothering to tell him she was okay again. That had been her standard answer for the last forty eight hours and it had rapidly become untrue, she was far from okay but she didn't have the virus yet so that meant she had no right to make complaints.

"Good," John said holding her gaze a moment longer. He was about to say something else when there was a commotion in the control room. They both jumped to their feet and ran into the room to find Chuck had collapsed, his nose and ears were bleeding, his skin was clammy and his body was shaking with a seizure. Chuck had become symptomatic that morning, he'd passed the point where most people had been sent to the triage areas hours ago, he'd kept working instead.

"Get him to the infirmary," Elizabeth ordered.

* * *

His eyes were stinging, probably from being in use for so long but John had neither the time nor the will to let them rest. They'd been battling the virus for three days now, they weren't getting any closer to a cure as far as he could tell and they were quickly losing man power. Earth were doing what they could to help, samples of the virus had been sent back to them for study but John didn't think they'd be able to do things much faster than the doctors and biologists here on Atlantis were. The death count was going up, seventeen people had died now and according to Carson they were going to lose at least that many more over the next twenty four hours.

Carson was clear of symptoms for now, as were John and Elizabeth but Ronon had started having nose bleeds, Lorne was unconscious and Laura was probably going to be right behind him. Kate Heightmeyer was symptomatic as well but she was still going around talking to people throughout the city, keeping everyone calm and just providing someone to talk to.

John handed the young lieutenant he was half carrying over to another man, telling him to take her to the nearest triage area. She'd collapsed whilst she was helping one of the biologists but from the look of her she probably should have gone down several hours ago. John was about to head back down to the gate room where Elizabeth was when the gate started dialling, he stopped and waited for the technician that had taken Chuck's place to tell him who it was.

"No IDC, we're receiving a transmission though," he stated and John told him to put it through just as Elizabeth arrived by his side. The screen beside them flickered on and John felt every tired, aching muscle in his body go tense at the sight of the face that greeted them.

"Kolya," Elizabeth said, her own voice strained with anger.

"Dr Weir, Colonel Sheppard, glad to see you are both still up and about," Kolya greeted with a smirk that made John want to march through the gate, one way system or not, and strangle him.

"What do you want?" Elizabeth asked clearly in no mood to place nice with someone she didn't like.

"I hear you've been having some trouble, I wish to help," Kolya told them receiving a raised eyebrow from Elizabeth which obviously prompted him to continue. "My sources tell me that you're having a problem with a virus your people picked up off world."

"And what sources would those be?" Elizabeth questioned, John decided it would be best to keep quiet, he couldn't trust himself to behave in this situation, especially being as tired and wound up as he was.

"I'm afraid I can't divulge that information Dr Weir, do not be alarmed though it came from none of your people," Kolya replied smugly, smirk still in place. "My people ran into the same virus several months ago, we have the cure here and I'm prepared to give it to you."

Anyone in the control room who hadn't been paying close attention to the conversation before was definitely listening in on it now. There was complete silence for several seconds as Kolya and Elizabeth stared each other down through the screen.

"And why would you want to give us the cure?" Elizabeth finally asked and Kolya's smirk widened.

"Well of course I want something in return," Kolya began "But given the alternative I'm sure you'll be able to find a way to accommodate me."

"What is it you want?" Elizabeth questioned her temper shorter than usual and John could hear the effort it was taking for her to keep it in check.

Kolya's eyes flickered to John for a second and then went back to Elizabeth. "John Sheppard, send him to me and I'll give you the cure."

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Don't even think about it John," Elizabeth ordered as the two of them stood in her office. There were times when she seemed to know him so well that he had to wonder if maybe she could read his mind. They had finished their conversation with Kolya only a few minutes ago and more or less come straight here, it was only those few minutes John had needed to go from not even thinking about granting Kolya's request to actually considering it.

"It's an option Elizabeth," John stated "Our people are dying; if we can't find a cure soon then it'll be an option we have to consider."

She knew as well as him that he was right but it wasn't in her nature to give into demands like this especially when it put someone's life in danger. "I'm not sending you through to him, Carson and his team will find the cure."

"Before or after we've lost half the population of the city?" John questioned and Elizabeth held his gaze for a moment before looking at the floor, she didn't have an answer to that and he hadn't expected her to. "I'm not saying we just hand me over with a ribbon tied around me but we should at least be open to the possibility that we won't have another choice."

"Okay," Elizabeth replied but John wasn't convinced she was going to give the request any more consideration than she already had. "We should check in with Carson, see if he and..."

Elizabeth's words were cut off by the commotion that was once again coming from the control room, they both headed through to see yet another of their people succumb to the virus. The young woman was on the floor, fitting violently, blood seeping from not only her nose and ears but her eyes as well. John clenched his fists at his side; one of the doctors that were still on his feet was already tending to her but from the look of it John didn't think she would last much longer anyway. They were losing people too fast, at this rate there was going to be no one left to look for the cure in the next few days.

They finally got her seizure under control and the woman was carried out of the room unconscious and on a stretcher. The two people taking her didn't look much better of than she did; in fact under normal circumstances John would have given them the day off on the spot. There weren't that many people left in the control room now, the usually busy room was too quiet for John's liking. The scientists were all working on finding a cure for the virus, even people whose expertise were in other fields were doing what they could to help. The military were helping out around the city and in the triage areas; there were too many patients now for the doctors to deal with themselves especially with their own numbers diminishing.

John looked at the stargate, he didn't like the thought that sooner or later he was going to have to go through to Kolya, it was just a case of how many people he allowed to die first; it wasn't going to be a lot.

* * *

John watched Elizabeth sink back into her chair as the report of yet another death came in, she closed her eyes for a moment in what he knew was her way of pushing back emotions she had no time to deal with. In the last few hours they'd lost three more people and Carson had been clear that the number of deaths was going to go up very fast over the rest of the day. The medical teams hadn't found the cure, they weren't giving up but they weren't hopeful they were going to find it in time to save the majority of the city's population. John already knew what he had to do; he'd known since Kolya's transmission, he was just going to have to convince Elizabeth of that.

"No," Elizabeth said drawing John's thoughts back to the room and he realised only then that Elizabeth had been watching him.

"Elizabeth..." he began preparing to offer all the argument he had to. She usually won their arguments, she was better with words than he could ever hope to be but there was too much at stake here, he couldn't lose this time. He didn't even get a chance to try, she cut him off adamantly.

"No John, I'm not handing you over to Kolya, we don't make deals with people like him," she stated her eyes were on his and filled with a determination to make him see this her way, the same determination he felt. She wasn't going to back down, neither was he, not when it was this important, not when he knew he was right.

"People are dying Elizabeth, half of the city is going to be dead by tomorrow if we don't get that cure and we're not going to be able to get it ourselves, at least not in the limited time we have. If Kolya has it then we could be saving a lot of lives," he argued fiercely, being met by the same fierceness from her.

"If John, if," she pointed out, putting as much emphasis into her voice as he had ever heard from her. "We don't even know that he has the cure, for all we know we'd send you through, he'd shut down the gate and that would be it. You'd be gone and we'd be no better off than we had been in fact we'd be worse off for losing you in the meantime. I'm not prepared to take that risk."

"It's my risk to take Elizabeth, I don't like it any more than you do, I don't like that man anymore than you do but we don't have a choice," John told her, the volume of his voice rising more out of desperation than anger.

"I'm not going to send you to your death again John," Elizabeth shouted and like someone had flicked a switch in his head he abruptly understood her in a whole new way, understood why she had taken such a firm stance here when she had to know deep down that he was right. Whatever argument he might have come back with died before it made it passed his lips and he let his body relax, he hadn't even been aware of how wound up he'd been getting.

"That's what this is about," he stated, calm now and Elizabeth's eyes continued to hold his. There was realisation in them as well as though she'd only just understood herself why it was so important to her not to let him go. There was a tense quiet in the office, both of them trying to figure out their own thoughts, how to continue. "We don't know what Kolya wants with me; we don't know that he'll kill me."

More silence, then Elizabeth sighed, relaxing more herself now that the heated part of the argument was over with. "Why is it always you?" she questioned as much to herself as to him. "Why is that every time I have to make a decision that will probably kill someone it's you that's going to end up dead?"

"We both know I'm a magnet for trouble," he replied, trying to lighten the mood just a little bit. "I did warn you at the start."

"I already left you to Kolya once," she said quietly and John's mind flashed back to the cold room, to the Wraith that Kolya had allowed to feed on him. He and Elizabeth had talked about it briefly when he'd got back. She had a vague idea what he'd been through and he had some idea what she had been forced to endure, stuck here on Atlantis watching a Wraith feed on her second in command knowing that she could make it stop if she gave Kolya what he wanted but also knowing she couldn't do that.

"You didn't have a choice then, you don't now either," he told her and she shook her head.

"Yes I do, I won't make that decision again John," she stated.

"You'd rather risk everyone else's lives, they're going to die Elizabeth, if we give Kolya what he wants then they at least have a chance, if we don't then they have none," he explained and she continued to shake her head, her eyes lost in her own thoughts.

"John, I can't," she told him.

"You can," he corrected "Sometimes we have to make sacrifices."

Her eyes snapped to his so suddenly John was taken aback for a moment "Sacrifice?"

The Overseer... was this what he'd meant?

And then it didn't matter anymore, it didn't matter that Elizabeth refused to let him go, it didn't matter that every life on Atlantis was at stake because Elizabeth's nose started bleeding and that made John's decision for him. Elizabeth cursed and reached for a tissue, wiping at the blood and John took the minute that gave him to collect his thoughts again. When the bleeding stopped Elizabeth threw the tissue in the bin beside her desk, an almost defeated look on her face as she cast a glance at it.

"I'm going," he told her; there was no question in his voice, no room for her to argue though he knew she was probably going to try anyway. His decision was made and he wasn't going to change it, her life had been on the line since this had started but now that she was showing symptoms it felt more real, too real. Hers was one life he wouldn't sacrifice and if his had to be the sacrificed instead then he was more than prepared for that.

"John..." she began her voice weaker somehow and it only solidified his resolve.

"I'm going," he repeated just as firmly and then she did what he hadn't been expecting... she nodded.

* * *

Elizabeth stood in the gate room staring at the active Stargate; on the other side were a smug Kolya and his army of rogue Genii. The grin he'd given her when she'd agreed to his conditions had almost change her mind but John was right, they were running out of time and their options were limited to two, hand him over to Kolya or keep trying to find the cure and lose most of their people in the process.

John walked up beside her and she ignored the pain in her head and the nausea that was making her feel dizzy as well as sick. She gave him a small smile still uncertain of her decision but knowing there was no changing it now, John was going to go whether she liked it or not, she should at least let him go with her approval.

"How are you feeling?" he asked her.

"Not bad, considering," she replied as honestly as she was going to. "Are you sure about this?"

"Yeah," he told her without hesitation, his eyes were on her and it didn't make her feel any better knowing that she was the main reason he was doing this. He would have done it anyway she was sure but as it was, she was his reason. "I guess I should go."

"John..." she trailed off not knowing what to say but feeling like something needed to be said. In truth there was a lot that needed to be said, things she couldn't say, not even now and she prayed that somehow she would get the chance again.

"I know," he replied and from the way he was looking at her, she knew that he did, that if he could there were things he would tell her as well. "See you later."

The three words were simple but he'd chosen them carefully, she prayed they were true "See you."

He held her gaze a moment longer and she was so close to grabbing a hold of him and not letting him go. When he turned around and walked toward the gate it felt too much like she was losing the most important thing in her life. He stopped just before the even horizon, turning back to her and giving her a smile, his usual over the shoulder wave and then he was gone. She ran up the stairs to the control room, the screen was still linked to Kolya's transmission, the Genii stood there waiting for him. John had already come through the gate on the other side, he took a few steps forward and then everything happened so fast Elizabeth barely had time to register it all.

Kolya pulled a gun and shot him, two shots rang out through the now completely silent room and on the screen John fell to the floor. He didn't move, in fact as far as Elizabeth could see he wasn't even breathing and she felt more than heard the cry that came out of her own mouth. A desperate plea for what she just saw to not be real, please tell her she hadn't sent him to his death.

One of the Genii stepped forward, kneeling down next to John's unmoving form and putting a hand to his neck. "He's dead."

A feeling of complete numbness took over Elizabeth then, she vaguely registered Kolya glance at the camera before the stargate shut down and the screen went black.

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Kolya smiled with satisfaction as the stargate shut down, an eye for an eye, it was only fair after all though for everything John Sheppard had done and taken from him he didn't feel entirely even. He supposed Sheppard felt like he was the more wronged though, it was all a matter of perception but in Kolya's eyes he would never be even with Sheppard.

"Send the cure," he ordered, he would honour his word. It wasn't the people of Atlantis he had a problem with, he'd step over them to get what he wanted but there was no sense in allowing them to be wiped out by a mere virus, not when they did such a good job of killing Wraith in their travels. One of his men nodded and started to carry out his orders and Kolya turned to leave, they'd be leaving the planet in a few minutes, Atlantis would dial after them he was sure but they'd be long gone by the time they got here.

"Sir," one of his men stopped him and Kolya turned around. It was the man still kneeling by Sheppard's side, his face looking shocked. "He's still alive."

Stubborn man, well if that was how it was going to be.

"Get him ready, we'll take him with us," Kolya stated and his men stared at him for several moments, their eyes questioning and unsure. "Is there a problem?"

"No sir," his man replied quickly covering his mistake and doing as he'd been told.

* * *

The cure had worked, Kolya had kept his word but losing John in the meantime had been a heavy price. The team that had been sent to the co-ordinates Kolya had been at had returned a while ago, there had been no sign of the Genii; they'd probably only used the planet for contacting Atlantis. John's body was gone as well, only a pool of blood had been left where he'd been shot, a lot of blood, too much.

Elizabeth didn't know what to do now; she'd known sending John to Kolya was like signing his death warrant. She'd known and she'd done it anyway but if she hadn't a lot of people would have died, now they would live and that was thanks to the sacrifice John had made.

Sacrifice, the Overseer.

This had to have been what he was talking about, it all fit and Elizabeth felt like an idiot for not paying it more attention. Deep down she knew there was nothing she could have done differently; she couldn't have stopped that virus being brought back to Atlantis anymore than she could have stopped John from giving himself over to Kolya. Still, she couldn't help but feel like she should have been able to do something, prevent all of this from happening.

She heard someone walk in and looked up to see Teyla making her way to the empty chair. She looked like hell, probably felt like it too, she had a feeling Carson hadn't cleared her to start wondering around the city yet. If there was one thing the members of John's team had in common it was their stubborn refusal to sit around and do nothing for an extended period of time, even Rodney would ultimately wind up in his lab tinkering with one of his toys.

"Teyla, how are you?" she asked, the Athosian looked as pale as a ghost and it seemed like her whole body was trembling with the effort of walking to the chair, the question seemed stupid.

Teyla offered her a small smile as she sat in the chair, taking a moment to catch her breath and recover from her walk. "I am doing better, how are you?"

"I'm fine, Carson already cleared me for light work," Elizabeth told her.

"That is not what I was talking about," Teyla stated giving her a knowing look, a look of shared pain, she'd lost John today too, they all had.

"I feel like I should have done something," Elizabeth replied, there were two people she felt comfortable being this honest with, Teyla was one of them, the other was John but seeing as that was no longer an option she was left with only Teyla.

"You could not have done more than you did," Teyla pointed out what Elizabeth already knew.

"I know that, it doesn't make me feel any better," Elizabeth told her, she glanced at the Stargate where she had last seen John before he had been shot on the screen. His face, the smile and the wave he gave her were burned into her brain along with every memory she had of him. She should have stopped him, should have said or done something to make him stay, she shouldn't have let him go.

"He would not want you to do that to yourself," Teyla stated with the knowing look still on her face. "Stop questioning what you did, you both made the right decision. If you hadn't done what you did many of the people here would be dead now, myself among them."

"We were warned," Elizabeth said quietly her eyes still on the stargate. "The Overseer, he told us this would happen."

"I told you his predictions had never proven untrue, what did he say?" she questioned.

"That a darkness was approaching and a sacrifice might have to be made to protect the greater good," Elizabeth summed up, examining what the old man had told her to see if there was any way she could have seen this coming, stopped it. There wasn't and even as she went over and over it in her head, over and over what happened over the last few days she knew she couldn't have changed anything. What the Overseer had told them had not been meant to help them prevent it from happening but to guide them through it, to help them make the right decision when the time came.

"Do not shut yourself off Elizabeth, I know that you are already heading in that direction, had John been here he would have been the first one in here to make sure it didn't happen, he wouldn't want it," Teyla told her and then smiled slightly as she saw Carson coming. "I think I'm in trouble now."

"Did I tell you that you could leave?" Carson questioned the annoyance in his voice dimmed by the exhaustion.

"I only came to speak with Elizabeth, I will return to my bed now," Teyla placated, struggling to find the energy to stand back up again. Carson helped her despite his own wavering energy and as the two of them left he turned back to Elizabeth, he looked like he wanted to say something but then changed his mind and left.

* * *

John woke up feeling like he'd run himself over with a Jumper, his whole body ached and it was even worse when he tried to move. He didn't recognise where he was, in fact he was sure that he shouldn't be anywhere. Kolya had shot him, twice if he remembered correctly and he'd thought that was it, that he was dead.

"You're awake," a soft voice stated and John turned his head on the pillow to see the young woman approaching the side of the bed. "We were worried for a while back there."

The blonde woman smiled, a friendly smile that John wouldn't have associated with the Genii uniform and the knowledge that she was most likely working for Kolya. She seemed to be a doctor, she started fussing around him in the same manner Carson did when he woke up after a mission gone bad.

"Who are you?" John asked warily watching her every move.

"Lidia, Dr Lidia Alaine," she introduced herself with another smile. "Do you want me to help you sit up?"

John shook his head, proceeding to do it himself and then regretting it when it sent a stab of pain through his chest. Alaine helped him anyway when she saw him wince, smiling for a third time though this one was an amused one. He thanked her, still wary of what she wanted, of why he was still alive, why they would help him.

"Where am I?" was his next question.

"Our base infirmary, Commander Kolya brought you back through the gate with him and ordered you to be taken care of," she explained and John raised an eyebrow incredulously.

"Why would Kolya want to help me, he was the one who shot me in the first place?" John questioned.

"Because Colonel Sheppard," another voice came from doorway, this one familiar and hated. "I am not quite the monster you think I am."

"Could have fooled me Kolya," John replied glaring at the man as he walked into the infirmary.

"You shot me, I should have died, I didn't. I shot you, you should have died, you didn't, I guess you could call that fate. If you hadn't killed so many of my men I would call us even," Kolya told him, a smug smirk on his face that seemed to be a permanent feature on the man.

"If you hadn't tried to steal the city and held two of my friend's hostage then I wouldn't have had to kill your people," John returned sarcastically. "And let's not forget you fed me to a Wraith."

"It was nothing personal," Kolya replied.

"Felt personal enough to me," John told him and Kolya smiled.

"You are alive Colonel Sheppard; I would think you should at least be grateful for that, if we had not brought you here then you would have bled to death on that planet long before anyone found you. I suggest you make yourself comfortable here, you won't be going anywhere else," Kolya informed him and then left without giving John the chance to say anything back. If Kolya thought he was going to just sit here and be quietly grateful to him then he had another thing coming.

* * *

At least he was no longer stuck in the bed; he supposed that was a plus. He'd tried to get to the gate a few times only to get beat up by one of guards and brought right back to the infirmary where Lidia patched him up again with another lecture. Kolya had been to see him a few time in the last couple of days, checking in on him as though he actually cared and reminding him that trying to escape was only gonna land him back here with extra injuries.

"You should just accept that you're not getting out of here, it'd be far more beneficial to your health," Lidia told him, exasperation filling her voice as she dabbed a cloth over the cut on his head, cleaning the wound that had been inflicted by the end of a gun during his latest escape attempt.

"As much as I enjoy your company and the frequent visits from the man I hate more than anyone else in two galaxies, I think I'd rather go home," John replied, smiling so that she would know he meant no offence to her. He'd gotten to know her over the last few days, she was a nice girl, didn't really fit in here but at the same time she seemed to be happy here.

"Well how about I stop fixing you up, see how well you do then," she threatened with a raised eyebrow. "Commander Kolya isn't going to let you go and all you're doing is getting yourself hurt, as far as you're concerned this is your home now."

"No it's not," John told her a little more seriously and she sighed, putting the cloth down and examining the cut on his head again.

"You could make your home here," she suggested and John repressed his own sigh. He knew Lidia liked him, more than just liked him and he didn't want to hurt her but the interest was one way. She was pretty, she was nice but he would never see her like that, he had a feeling he knew why but for as long as he was stuck here he was better off not thinking about that.

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"You're not going to stay are you?" Lidia asked, more rhetorical than anything else and John looked up from the Genii board game the two of them had been playing all day to see the defeated look on her face. "At least not willingly."

"No," John replied simply, he'd been telling her that from the start but she had never accepted it. His repeated escape attempts, despite the injuries he kept getting, must have finally convinced her that he would never be able to make a home with the Genii. She looked down moving the tiny blue figurine across the board where she was informed she'd been attacked by some two headed flying monster.

"Ancestors, give me a break," she exclaimed and John couldn't tell if she was talking about the game or him, maybe both. John rolled the Genii version of dice and then moved the green figurine that belonged to him. "Who is she?"

"What?" John questioned a little confused.

"The woman that has such a firm grasp of your heart, who is she?" she asked and John thought about playing dumb for a moment, pretending he didn't know what she was talking about but she deserved more from him than that. She'd spent a week fixing him up every time he got himself dragged back here by one of the big burly guards Kolya had posted in the corridors around the infirmary. She'd been good to him and she deserved to be given more than a lie in payment for that, she deserved the truth even if he hadn't admitted it to himself yet.

"Dr Weir," he told her, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Of course it is," she said quietly, her eyes were avoiding his, looking down at the board as though it held the answers to life and not just the knowledge that her figurine had survived the animal attack only to fall of the edge of a cliff. "I've heard Commander Kolya talk about her, she sounds like a great woman."

"The best," he informed her and she gave him a small, sad smile.

"She is a lucky, I hope she realises that," Lidia stated and John refrained from saying that it was him that was lucky, lucky to have Elizabeth in his life. "Stop turning left when you go down the corridor, if you turn right it'll take longer to get to the gate but there's less guards around, you can probably sneak passed unnoticed. There's always guards at the gate though, three maybe four, the weapons locker is two corridors away from here, you'll find a Wraith stunner in there," she told him and then stood up and walked away, leaving him sat there feeling confused, had she just told him how to escape?

* * *

He really hoped this hadn't been a set up because if it was he was gonna get his ass kicked again and he wasn't in the mood for that today. He stepped out of the infirmary as the guard looked the other way, slipping away and around the corner in just a couple of seconds. He did as Lidia had told him turning right instead of left like he usually did and following the corridor along. He could tell straight away this was the easier path, if a little longer, there were hardly any guards around and those he did come across were easy to get around.

There was a guard standing still outside one of the rooms and since he was two corridors from the infirmary John guessed the room behind him was the armoury. He got pretty close before the guard noticed him and raised his weapon, John had to act fast to prevent ending up back at square one but with Kolya knowing he'd thought to go the other way. He had to pull this off first time otherwise Kolya would station more of those big guards around here and he'd lose his only shot at getting through the gate.

He rammed him, running forward and tackling the man to the ground before he could get a shot off. He sat up immediately and his fist connected with the guards jaw, once, twice, three times and the man was unconscious with a bloody nose that John could only make himself feel a little bad for. He opened the door to the room he'd been guarding and as expected it was the armoury. He dragged the unconscious form of the guard into the room, putting him out of the way and grabbing the Wraith Stunner that was nearest to him. He fired once at the wall to make sure it worked, if this was a trap he wasn't going into it with a faulty stunner. There were other weapons there as well and John briefly considered taking them before dismissing the thought. Lidia had told him to get the stunner, she didn't want any of her colleagues getting hurt or killed because of her. She'd never be able to forgive him or herself if someone died because she'd helped the enemy.

He left the armoury with just the stunner, hurrying along the corridor as quickly as he could. It was possible someone would notice the guard missing him from his post and check it out, then they'd know he was lose in the base and he had to be in the gate room before that happened, preferably dialling the gate already.

He had a rough idea where the stargate was, that was why he'd been turning left in that first corridor. He had a pretty good sense of direction and he had to trust that now, he followed his instincts, avoiding guards rather than getting into fights with them, he needed to be invisible for as long as possible. He felt a wave of relief when he found the stargate, standing there with the DHD in front of it, this was the furthest he'd gotten and he wasn't about to fail now.

There were three guards, two near the gate and one just on the inside of the archway. He fired at the guard near the door first, the noise attracting the attention of the other two but surprise was on John's side, he had already taken out one of the guards by the time the last one fired his weapon. The bullet missed him, hitting the wall next to him instead but John wasn't one to miss a shot like this and the guard went down quickly. An alarm sounded, they knew he was here now and he wasted no time in running to the DHD and dialling the barely memorised address.

One of the guards was getting up; reaching for the weapon that had fallen near him and John kicked it away, kicking the side of the guards head and knocking him unconscious. The gate dialled, the event horizon lighting up the large dim room just as Kolya and several men ran in. John locked eyes with Kolya for a second before running as fast as he could to the gate. Gun shots rang out, bullets following him but John hit the wormhole and moments later he was stepping out onto another planet with more weapons pointed at him.

* * *

Elizabeth rubbed at her temple, trying to soothe the rapidly growing pain there as she leaned back in her chair. This had easily been the worst week and a half of her life on Atlantis. First the virus that had killed too many of her people, then losing John and now the piles and piles of paper work that came with something so catastrophic. She signed the bottom of the latest report and put it to the side, sufficiently satisfied with it even though she knew it wasn't up to her usual standard, nothing she'd done in the last week had been up to her usual standard.

The stargate started dialling, no one was due back and no one was going off world so she stood up and headed through to the control room. Chuck informed her that they were receiving an IDC, Lieutenant Gray on the mining planet. He'd been there for a month now; his team were protecting the miners that were drilling up some weird metal that was natural to the planet. They were due to be there for another three weeks yet and there regular check in wasn't until tomorrow. She ordered the shield to be lowered and then made her way to the gate room to deal with whatever issue had come up.

She stopped dead at the bottom of the stairs when instead of Gray stepping through the gate she saw John.

He froze when he saw her; he just stood there in front of the gate looking a little lost, a little beat up but very much alive. Elizabeth could feel everyone watching them, any work that had been going on a minute ago had come to a halt now.

"Hi," he greeted quietly and she walked forward toward him not even caring that everyone was watching as she wrapped her arms around him. Unlike the last time she had greeted him like this there was no hesitation in his response, he hugged her back tightly, probably longer than necessary but she wasn't complaining.

"I thought..." she began, the conversation straight out of their past.

"I know you did," he replied, his hand was still on her arm, the small amount of physical contact reassuring her that he was really there. "So did everyone for a minute, I guess I'm just not that easy to kill."

"How..." she began to question but her wordiness seemed to have deserted her.

"It's a long story," he told her and then looked around him at the people in the room. "Everyone alright here."

"Kolya sent us the cure like he said he would, no one else died after you left," she informed him and he nodded his head slowly, relief on his face at knowing not only that they hadn't lost anyone else but that he'd made the right decision.

Carson walked into the gate room, someone – probably Chuck – had obviously informed him that John was here. The doctor looked ready to jump up and down with glee at the sight of his friend standing there but obviously managed to refrain. Instead he ushered John to the infirmary, assessing his injuries as they went. Elizabeth followed after them not quite ready to let John out of her sight. She clicked her radio, there were certain people who should be among the first to know John was here and alive.

* * *

John couldn't even describe how good it felt to be home, Carson had worked wonders on the numerous injuries he had, including the bullet wounds, not that Lidia hadn't done a good job but Genii medicine wasn't at the same level as earth's never mind Atlantis'. His team had come to the infirmary within minutes of John getting there all of them overjoyed that he was there and more or less alright. John had been glad to see them all but he'd spent the whole time making eye contact with Elizabeth, wishing he could talk to her alone. In the end though she'd been called to the control room and had to leave him.

Carson had allowed him to come back to his room under the condition that he slept and went back for a check up in the morning. He'd dosed John up with pain killers and sent him on his way; as much as John was happy to see his friends again he was glad to be back in his room alone. He showered and changed, happy to be out of the Genii clothes and into his own. He was just considering passing out on his bed when the door chimed and with a sigh John told the city to open the doors; he couldn't be bothered to walk over to them.

His wish for whoever it was to go away died a quick death when Elizabeth walked into the room a little hesitantly. John smiled to her and offered her a seat on the edge of the bed, there was too much stuff covering the chair. She returned his smile as she accepted and he sat down next to her, she'd been almost all he could think about since he'd left and now that she was here, he felt like there was something he had to do. Something that had become a necessity since he'd admitted out loud to Lidia that Elizabeth had his heart, always would.

"John, I really thought that you were dead, for a week now I really believed that you were dead, gone," she told him, there was shakiness to her voice, more than John had ever heard from her, the fear in it damn near broke his heart. This was a woman who had an almost iron clad control of her emotions when she needed it, she'd break apart in her own time when there was no one else to see it.

"I tried to get back," he told her though she already knew that, he'd told them what had happened while Carson had been fussing over him.

"I know," she replied looking down at her shaky hands and in a brave move John reached out and held them in his, steadying them. They were cold, at least colder than his and he could feel the heat going from him into her, he hoped that helped her somehow.

"It was you I wanted to get back to, Atlantis and the team too but you more than anything else," he admitted, it was a bold declaration that he would have kept to himself a week ago but today, at that moment, keeping it quiet just wasn't an option. She looked at him, reading everything in his eyes that he would never be able to put into words and he could read it all back from her, like a mirror image of something they had never admitted to each other, at least not out loud. He leaned toward her and kissed her cheek, his lips lingering against her skin for several seconds before he moved back, now he was home.

"I should go and let you sleep," she whispered her face only inches from him and he shook his head.

"No, you should stay and let me sleep," he corrected her and she smiled slightly, her hand reaching up to brush over the skin on his neck. He took that as her agreement, laying down on the bed and pulling her down with him, his arms going tightly around her. He closed her eyes, his face almost buried in her hair and he soaked up the smell of her shampoo, the feel of her laid there and for the first time in over a week allowed himself a restful sleep.

THE END

**Authors Note: So that's the final chapter, I hope you guys enjoyed it. The next sparkabet fic should be up soon. A big thanks to everyone who reviewed. **


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